Rallying Your Leadership Team:
Putting Evidence-based Decision Making into
Action
National Association of Secondary School Principals
Annual Conference
Tampa, FL
March 10, 2012
Kristen Wilcox, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Education
Nancy Andress, Educational Consultant
Agenda
• Overview of the NYKids project
• Research Findings
• Tools to help schools use the
findings and resources
• Q&A
Mission
• Inform
– web displays of achievement data
• Inspire
– reports, cases of high performers,
best practice framework
• Improve
– on-line tools and institutes
“If you do what you always did, you’ll get
what you always got.”
– HS Administrator (NYKids HS Study)
http://www.albany.edu/nykids/
Inform – data re: every school in
state
-
Performance trend charts
Cluster charts
Opportunity gap charts
Achievement by subgroup charts
http://www.albany.edu/nykids/
Inspire & Improve – learn from
the higher performers
Inspire
Seeking to answer: What have others done?
And how?
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•
•
•
Individual School Cases
Cross-Case Reports
Best Practice Frameworks w/ evidence
Books
What
makes
elementary
schools
work
A report on best
practices in NYS
elementary
schools
5 studies
completed
Elementary schools (2005)
Middle schools (2007)
High schools (2008)
Middle school science (2009)
Critical needs (2011) (best practices
for ethnically and linguistically diverse
and special needs students - elementary)
What
makes
Most Recent Articles and Book Chapters
elementary
schools
work
“Collect, Analyze, Act”
(March, 2012) Principal Leadership
 “Diversity as Strength: How Higher Performing Schools Embrace
Diversity and Thrive,” (in press) in Breaking the Mold of Education
for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students, edited by
Andrea Honigsfeld and Audrey Cohan. R&L Education
 “Poverty, Performance and Frog Ponds,” (2011). Kappan
 “From ‘Muddle School’ to Middle School: Building Capacity to
Collaborate,” (2011). Middle School Journal
 “High School Best Practices: Results from Cross-Case
Comparisons,” (2011).The High School Journal
Methods: Our Samples
 7-10 consistently higher-performing schools;
3-6 similar but consistently averageperforming schools, based on 3 years of NYS
Assessment data; control for SES, ELL
 Urban, rural, suburban
 Favor poverty (F/RL)
 Open admissions
 PPE near state average
 In consultation with Advisory Board
Methods: Data Collection
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•
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Make 2-day site visits
Interview teachers and administrators
Collect documents
Observe classrooms (MS science)
Analyze, write a case study for each
site then do cross-case analyses to
identify best practices
What makes high schools work
}
Overall Findings
Across all levels – elementary, middle,
high – higher-performing students
come from schools with the capacity
for continuous improvement. They do it
through…
• Distributed leadership
• Collaborative culture and practices
• Evidence-based decision making
• Shared vision and goal setting
Breaking Ranks and NYKids – A Crosswalk
Collaborative
Leadership/Professional
Learning Communities
Improved Student
Performance
Personalizing Your
School
Environment
Curriculum,
Instruction and
Assessment
• Breaking Ranks and NYKids
Collaborative
Leadership/Professional
Learning Communities
NYKids – MS BPs
• Relationships
• Emotional
Well-Being
• Collaboration
• EvidenceBased
Decision
Making
• Shared Vision
Improved Student
Performance
Personalizing Your
School Environment
Curriculum,
Instruction and
Assessment
NYKids HS BPs
• Rigor
• Innovation
• Transparency
• EvidenceBased
Decision
Making
• Strategic Use
of Resources
Breaking Ranks and NYKids
Collaborative
Leadership/Professional
Learning Communities
NYKids – MS BPs
• Collaboration
• Shared Vision
Improved Student
Performance
Personalizing Your
School Environment
Curriculum,
Instruction and
Assessment
NYKids HS BPs
• Transparency
• Strategic Use
of Resources
• Breaking Ranks and NYKids
Collaborative
Leadership/Professional
Learning Communities
Improved Student
Performance
Personalizing Your
School Environment
Curriculum,
Instruction and
Assessment
NYKids HS BPs
• Rigor
• Breaking Ranks and NYKids
Collaborative
Leadership/Professional
Learning Communities
Improved Student
Performance
Personalizing Your
School Environment
NYKids – MS BPs
• Relationships
• Emotional
Well-Being
Curriculum,
Instruction and
Assessment
NYKids HS BPs
• Innovation
• Breaking Ranks and NYKids
Collaborative
Leadership/Professional
Learning Communities
NYKids – MS BPs
• Relationships
• Emotional
Well-Being
• Collaboration
• EvidenceBased
Decision
Making
• Shared Vision
Improved Student
Performance
Personalizing Your
School Environment
Curriculum,
Instruction and
Assessment
NYKids HS BPs
• Rigor
• Innovation
• Transparency
• EvidenceBased
Decision
Making
• Strategic Use
of Resources
Breaking Ranks 21st Century
Principal Skills and NYKids
Inform
Educational Leadership
Inspire
Developing
Self and
Others
Resolving
Complex
Problems
Communication
Improve
(COMPASS tool)
Improve
Improve
COMPASS Tools and Training
• University partnership with school
improvement organization
• Two-day Initial Institutes
• ½-day Follow-up Institute - winter
• Full-day Follow-up Institute - spring
This has been a great resource to further our
thinking and planning within our district. It's so
wonderful to connect with other districts as well.
- COMPASS Institute Participant 12/9/2010
Step 1: Compare Your Practice
From the Middle School COMPASS
24
Step 2: Assess Priorities
From the High School COMPASS
25
“Jigsaw” the case studies
www.albany.edu/nykids
What
makes
elementary
schools
work
Find and read
about your
priority in the
cross case report.
2005
• Which schools are mentioned?
• What ideas do you want to explore
further?
Cross-Site Analysis – BP Frameworks
MS
HS
Key word collections
(also at www.knowyourschoolsny.org)
Step 4. Set SMART Goals
Write three ways you have
used data based on school
performance and teacher
experience in your school to
inform decision making.
A few comments about the COMPASS process from the pilot school teams
This process was really beneficial – we definitely
worked through quite a bit as a team. We now need to
execute, evaluate, and re-align our plan.
- School A, 7/27/2010
Overall, these two days were very valuable to both myself and my
colleagues. The COMPASS institute provided an effective framework to
develop district/building goals that will be taken back to our district and
serve as a catalyst for necessary discussion and ultimately drive action.
- School B, 7/27/2010
GREAT program for us -- it has really formed/framed our work! Great to see
qualitative data being just as important as quantitative. Great tool on many levels.
Thanks for your hard work.
- School C, 12/9/2010
How to use NYKids resources
to rally your leadership team
• Use the on-line survey
http://www.albany.edu/nykids/survey_your_school.php
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Assemble your “dream team”
Go through the COMPASS process
Monitor your progress
Spread the process beyond your school
Contact us if you need help…
Thank you!
Know Your Schools ~ for NY Kids website
http://www.albany.edu/nykids/
Email
kwilcox1@albany.edu
nandress@albany.edu
jangelis@albany.edu